


Crisis of Existence

by Marantis



Series: Xions Adventures [5]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: But Zack Fair is alive and kicking 'cause I said so, F/F, F/M, Memory Loss, Mysterious Tower, Past Character Death, Post KHIII, Radiant Garden, Reunions, Spoilers for the ending of Crisis Core kinda, Strifeheart if ya squint, also tears but the happy kind, everyone gets emotional, olympus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-27 07:10:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18191372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marantis/pseuds/Marantis
Summary: While wandering the hillsides of Olympus Xion and Vanitas happen upon a man. After helping him out against a few Heartless he reveals that he doesn’t have any memories of his past. Who is he and can his memories be returned to him?





	Crisis of Existence

**Author's Note:**

> So this kind of got out of hand lenght wise in comparison to what I usually write, personaly I blame it on my bias for Zack, because if there's something that gets me instantly emotional beside Kingdom Hearts it's that guy, I just love him so much.  
> Thanks again to the amazing Malte for reading over this unusually long thing even though he's currently busy with important stuff you are a an absolute dear.  
> So go on and enjoy this absolut wishfullfilment of mine.

Xion stepped out of the Corridor of Darkness onto one of the winding mountain passes of Olympus, shaking off the last dark wisps that clung to her, before dismissing her Keyblade Armor. “You’d think I wouldn’t have a problem with traveling this way, considering I used those regularly in the past. But alas they leave behind a bad taste.” When she turned around to her companion she just caught the tail end of an eye roll, as the portal flickered shut behind Vanitas.

“We agreed it would be the most efficient method of travel.” Vanitas pushed back the hood of his new jacket. The outfit that the three fairies made for him was somewhat similar in style to what they had given to Sora and Riku. Overall, it had a darker look to it because of the colour scheme that consisted of black, red and a dark blue. It was quite the improvement from the weird flesh suit, everyone had agreed.

Xion grinned. “As far as I remember, everyone else agreed not to trust us with a Gummiship.”

Vanitas rolled his eyes again. “You show a propensity for destruction just once and no one ever trusts you with fiddly mechanics ever again” he said monotonously, which Xion now recognised as the tone he used to convey humour. Xion chuckled. “We can’t all be naturals like Roxas.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. Why was he so adamant about not coming anyways?” Vanitas asked while they were making their way down the mountain. They had decided to appear halfway up the mountainside so as not to startle the inhabitants of Thebes with their arrival via Corridor of Darkness.

A grin spread across Xions face. “Because he can’t stand the thought of running into Phil.” Roxas had never missed an opportunity to rant about his missions that sent him to the Olympus Coliseum. It had either been about how useless of a partner Demyx was, or how annoying the inability of certain satyrs to count. It had always been way to amusing. So when today’s mission had been brought up, Roxas was very verbal about opting out of it, to the puzzlement of most. Xion had managed to hide her snickers in Naminés shoulder. Axel had not quite been so lucky which had earned him a scathing look from Roxas.

“Who now?” asked Vanitas while his gaze was sweeping around the cliff walls.

“That Trainer of Heroes that’s responsible for the Coliseum. Roxas kind of has a grudge against him” Xion explained.

Vanitas snorted. “Shame then, would have made this whole trip interesting.”

“Aw, come on” Xion swung an arm around his shoulder, which got her a mock protest before Vanitas settled down. They had noticed that while Vanitas’ initial response to being touched wasn’t positive, he actually really liked having physical contact. But Hades would freeze over before Vanitas ever admitted that. “It’s not going to be that bad. We just check up on how reconstruction is going and ask Hercules if he’s seen anything. So even if it’s boring, it’s going to be really brief.” She playfully bumped against Vanitas which elicited a grumble from him.

“But you do admit it’s going to be boring?” Vanitas asked with a raised eyebrow and a grin of triumph. Before Xion could answer though, movement on the plateau ahead caught her eye. She detached herself from Vanitas and rushed forward, the other just a step behind her.

In the open space between cliff sides stood a man surrounded by a gaggle of Heartless that were slowly advancing on him. “Well not as boring as anticipated” Xion said. When she glanced in Vanitas’ direction he had already summoned his Keyblade a gleeful grin on his face.

Xion send an Aero spell ahead before charging in after Vanitas. Together they made short work of the Heartless. Vanitas zipped around the battleground drawing the attention to himself and Xion finished off the enemies that foolishly turned their back towards her.

They had hardly broken a sweat as the last Heartless dissipated into a dark cloud, from it a pink heart floating up into the sky. An appreciative whistle brought Xions attention around to the man they had rescued.

“That was impressive work”, he stepped towards them. Xion noted that he was quite a bit taller than either of them, coming closer to Axels height. The man had black hair that was spiked backwards, a crisscrossed scar on his jaw and almost unnaturally bright blue eyes. 

“Thanks.” Xion smiled vanishing her Keyblade. Next to her Vanitas did the same looking somewhat disappointed that the fight had been over this quickly. “What are you doing here?” Xion questioned. “Mount Olympus isn’t really the friendliest place to be running around at all on your own.”

A chagrined smile appeared on the strangers face. “I’m kinda lost actually.” Xion and Vanitas exchanged a look. Vanitas raised an eyebrow. It was somewhat hard to get lost that bad, Xion thought.

“Where were you heading then?” asked Vanitas sceptically.

The man let out a nervous chuckle and Xion was beginning to feel that there was something afoot here. “I don’t actually know.”

She blinked in surprise. “What do you mean you don’t actually know?” demanded Vanitas.

“I just woke up somewhere around here. I don’t know how I got here. Didn’t even know where here was just a minute ago.” Xion watched in bafflement as the man ruefully wracked his hand through his hair.

She turned to look at Vanitas. “At least now you can’t complain it’s going to be boring.”

Vanitas snorted. “Yeah, it’s at least something. Hey, what’s your name?”

The nervous chuckle was back. “I can’t remember. Have been wracking my brain for it since waking up, but nothing.” Xion mustered him again this time with a bit more scrutiny. He didn’t look like he had been in a scuffle before the Heartless had cornered him and as far as she could tell, there was nothing indicating he had been hit over the head. Now that she had taken a closer look though she noticed that his clothes were strange. Not in general, but the wide pants and boots certainly were a vast contrast from what the usual inhabitants of this world wore.

Xion held up a finger. “One second.” She grabbed Vanitas arm and steered him a few feet away and turned so that their backs were turned to the stranger.

“What are you doing?” Vanitas asked, bemused.

“Do you think he could be from a different world?” Xion asked taking care to whisper, so their new acquaintance didn’t overhear. No need to disturb the order of the world, should Xion be wrong.

“Well even if he is, he’d hardly be able to tell us, now would he?” said Vanitas wryly.

Xion groaned. “Use that head of yours.” She lightly slapped Vanitas arm. “His clothes look all wrong. It’s nowhere close to what the people here wear. And it would explain what he’s doing all the way up the mountain.”

“That still leaves the question of why or how.” Xion sighed. Vanitas was right of course, but they wouldn’t find those answers by debating about it.

So she turned them around again to where the man had been patiently waiting. He wore the expression of someone who was pretending he hadn’t been interested in the secret conversation and intently listening for clues. “Everything alright over there?” he asked innocently.

“Can you remember anything at all?” Xion questioned. “Doesn’t even have to be a memory, maybe just a feeling?” Those, after all, were way more persistent in sticking around.

The man sighed, face falling completely for the first time and rubbed his hand through his hair again, as he gazed upwards to the sky, as if the answer might fall down from up there and hit him in the face. After a while Vanitas got impatient and began tapping his foot. The amnesiac finally spoke up with a far off look on his face. “Just that I wanted to protect someone.”

Vanitas groaned and threw his hands up in frustration. “Well that’s useless.” A ruefull smile passed over the guys face and Xion gave Vanitas an admonishing look. Vanitas just rolled his eyes and seemed not to be bothered by how rude he was being.

“Sorry to lay all that on you. I’ll probably remember after a while, so just point me in the direction of the next sign of civilisation and I’ll be out of your hair.” The guy didn’t seem all that convinced by his own words and neither was Xion.

A glint of determination entered her eye. Vanitas noticed and looked at her dubiously. “I know someone who might be able to help.” At her words the guy perked right back up and Xion couldn’t help the image of an excited puppy that entered her mind at the sight. Even though, that wasn’t something that would usually come to mind with someone of that size.

“You do remember what we used to get here?” Vanitas asked having crossed his arms.

Xion shrugged. There was nothing much they could do about that. “We could leave and get a better mode of transportation.” She smiled at the displeased grimace on Vanitas face. That also would involve asking someone to help them out with a Gummiship, not to speak of the inefficiency.

Vanitas schooled his face into something resembling indifference. “Well once won’t kill him.” He shrugged.

The guy seemed somewhat alarmed by that and leaned down towards Xion to ask. “What does he mean by that?”

Xion chuckled. “It’s going to be fine really, and over before you can even blink. But it’s still your decision if you want to come.”

The stranger nodded with renewed conviction. “No, if you know someone who could help, I’m willing to try.”

Xion nodded then hesitated for a second before speaking up again. “We should probably introduce ourselves before we whisk you away. I’m Xion and that is Vanitas.” She extended her hand in the boys direction, who raised a hand in a mock wave.

The guy smiled ruefully. “I’d introduce myself, but alas…” He gave an unsure shrug.

“We’ll find out soon enough.” Xion smiled at him reassuringly, while Vanitas pretended to gag in the background. This garnered him an admonishing look from Xion. “Would you?”, she asked dryly which did get him to stop and make himself useful by conjuring up a Corridor of Darkness leading back to the Mysterious Tower.

As the dark portal swooshed open their new friend took a startled step back. Vanitas gave a dramatic bow and gestured with his arms to the portal, face pulled into a sardonic smile. “After you.” Xion rolled her eyes and activated her armour, before extending her hand towards the black haired man. Just to be safe. Last thing they needed was him getting lost on the way. He took it quick enough, if a bit hesitantly and Xion stepped through the portal with him close behind.

They emerged on the other side on the patch of grass in front of the Mysterious Tower. The guy shuddered, accompanied by a noise of unease. “Well that’s an unpleasant feeling.”

Xion smiled in sympathy and dismissed her armour once more so he could actually see it. “You won’t have to repeat that, promise.” Vanitas stepped out of the portal behind them and closed it with a wave of his arm.

“How about you get him settled somewhere comfy, like the library and I go get Naminé?” Vanitas cringed at her suggestion, but did gesture for the guy to follow him, while plodding towards the tower entrance. The guy obediently followed after faltering only for a moment when a small bunny like creature separated from Vanitas’ shadow. It got picked up before it could make its first hop, same as the Flood that appeared a second later. When the guy turned his head over his shoulder with a questioning expression aimed her way, she just mouthed a later, which seemed to satisfy him for now, as he only shrugged and continued following Vanitas.

Xion followed them through the door and then started off in the direction of the sparring area. At breakfast Naminé and she had talked about their plans for today and while Xion had the mission in Olympus, Naminé had told her she would be training with Aqua, who was giving her lessons in magic. Xion felt pride swell inside her chest at how her girlfriend had taken to the lessons so fast and was already close to mastering a handful of ra-spells.

Xion carefully opened the door to the sparring area, mindful of stray magic, and good thing too, because as soon as she had poked her head inside a ball of fire impacted on the wall only a few steps to her right. “Sorry!” Xion smiled at Naminés startled face. The girl had raised her hands to cover her mouth, while Aqua, on the opposite side of the field, chuckled.

“No harm done” Xion said reassuringly and stepped inside. Too bad she didn’t actually look where she set her foot and thus slipped on a plane of ice that a Blizzard had left behind. She went down with a surprised yelp sprawling on the cold surface.

Naminé hastened over and Xion could see the sheepish smile on her face. The girl extended a hand and Xion was grateful for the help in getting up. “Are you hurt?” Naminé asked worrying her lower lip.

Xion shook her head and squeezed the hand she was still holding reassuringly. “Nah, it takes more than a bit of ice.” Naminé giggled and Xion had to bite her lip to keep the smile from splitting her face in half.

By now Aqua had made her way towards them. “May I ask, what leads you to interrupt our training?” While her words may have been stern her tone was tinted with curious amusement, represented in a slight smile.

“Right” Xion turned to Aqua “Master Aqua could I borrow your student for a bit? There was an unforeseen incident on our mission and I think Naminé can help.”

Aqua tilted her head in interest. “In that case, I shouldn’t delay you. It’s time for a break anyway. I’ll probably join you in a bit.” Xion nodded her thanks and then the two took their leave.

“So what’s this about?” Naminé asked curious, after they had left the sparring area behind them.

“We found someone on Mount Olympus and he’s lost his memories, so I thought you could take a look at him and help him recall them” explained Xion.

“Oh” Naminé contemplated that information for a moment. “I guess it can’t hurt to try.” Xion smiled at her reassuringly.

Together they stepped into the library. Vanitas was leaning against the side of a bookshelf arms crossed over his chest, but no Unversed anywhere to be seen. Their new acquaintance was sitting on one of the stuffed armchairs, gaze sweeping around the room in curiosity. Blue eyes focused on them once the door closed behind the two girls.

“So this is Naminé” introduced Xion the other girl who raised her hand in a wave.

The amnesiac stood up and extended his hand towards Naminé. “Pleasure to meet you” he said with a bright smile.

Naminé took the offered hand and smiled back. “I hope I can be of help to you.”

His smile turned reassuring. “Xion was quite confident you could.” Naminé glanced at Xion, who gave her a bright smile. Xion caught sight of a faint blush on the other girls cheeks, before she turned towards her patient again.

“Since you don’t need me on babysitting duty anymore, I’m gonna go see if Ven’s already back.” Vanitas pushed himself off the bookshelf and was gone without glancing back.

“Soo…” the guy turned amused eyes from where he had watched Vanitas leave, back to Naminé “How do we do this?”

“Well…” She fidgeted a little and then looked around, searching before spotting one of her sketchbooks on a nearby table. The whole tower was littered with them. Xion estimated that there was always at least one within a thirty foot radius, no matter where you were inside the tower.

Naminé went over to grab the sketchbook that came complete with a pencil stuck in its spiral spine and then sat down in the chair adjacent to the one the man had chosen. “We’ll try it like this: you close your eyes and concentrate on the oldest memory you can actually recall and hopefully I can go from there.”

The guy bit his lip and fidgeted with his hands. “Can I ask how you’re going to try and help me?”

Naminé nodded. “Of course. Memories are like chains made up of individual links and those links can be separated from each other, which leads to certain memories not being accessible. With my magic I can rearrange those stretches of chain and reassemble them. That’s the theory of it anyway. I’m not as much of an expert as Xion might have led you to believe.”

Xion crossed her arms and pouted. “As far as I’m concerned not many people can boast about reassembling a person’s memories, after they’ve basically been completely scattered.”

The man chuckled at their antics. “Let’s begin then, and see how it goes” he said with a reassuring smile in Naminés direction before closing his eyes, a line appearing between his eyebrows as he concentrated.

Naminé took a deep breath. Xion leaned closer, curious as to what would happen next. After all she had never actually seen Naminé use her memory magic before. A shudder of unease travelled down her spine as she saw how Naminés eyes glazed over, now resembling tinted glass. She began to draw on her sketchbook.

One stroke after another the hillsides of Mount Olympus were scratched onto the paper. But almost as soon as Xion was able to recognize them as such, the page was ripped out in one fluid motion and flung of to the side, where it floated gently downwards. Before it had even touched the ground, Naminé had already started on the next picture.

Instead of luscious paths lined by a gurgling stream, this scenery was of a rocky wasteland. A tearing sound and the desolate landscape floated through the air. The next page was filled with quick strokes and before Xion could even tell what Naminés rapidly moving hand was creating, this page too was torn and tossed.

Xion snatched the paper out of the air, while Naminé already continued on drawing. The picture showed a singular feather. Her head held at an inquisitive angle, she studied the drawing Namine was currently working on, but couldn’t really make heads or tails of the angular strokes.

After a while the picture became clearer to Xion and she began to recognise it as a sword that was vaguely familiar to her. Finally Naminés hand stilled after the last stroke had created the edge of the sword and her eyes cleared up again. She blinked a few times almost as if blinded by the dim light of the library.

Next to her the man shook his head like a dog trying to dislodge water from its fur. “Well, I was kinda out of it for a while there.” Xion meanwhile, crouched down to collect the pages strewn around and ordered them, before handing them over to Naminé who smiled gratefully. “I don’t really feel different though.” He had tilted his head to the side thoughtfully, eyes wandering towards the ceiling.

“I don’t expect you to. I didn’t fiddle with your memories too much, after all. The good news is the chains are still mostly intact, just disconnected from each other in some places. That’s why you can’t recall them. I could try to fit them together again, but that would take a really long time” she smiled apologetic “So instead I looked for a few clues within the most recent memories. There’s a good chance that reconnecting with someone or something from your past will bring the rest of your memories flooding back.”

“That does sound like a plan!” he said cheerfully and then took the stack of papers that Naminé held out to him.

“Just take a look at these and tell me what comes to mind” Naminé encouraged and Xion moved so that she stood in the space between the two armchairs.

“So this one is Mount Olympus right?” He looked up to Xion for confirmation, who nodded. “Xion and Vanitas found me there as I was attacked by a gaggle of monsters.”

“They’re called Heartless” supplied Xion helpfully.

He nodded and continued. “This is also were I woke up, but I don’t know how I got there.” Apparently done with the first picture he flipped to the next page. He stared at the picture of the sheer cliffs for a while, a frown of concentration on his face. “I don’t know where that is, but I know that the air there is really dry and dusty.” He paused looking unsure of himself.

Naminé nodded in encouragement. “Do continue please, really anything at all might help.”

He took a deep breath. “I remember pain and a metallic smell.” Xion glanced worried at Naminé who had her attention focused on the amnesiac, who turned to the next page laying the picture of the cliff sides face down onto the table beside the chair.

Next up was the feather. “Relief. I can’t pinpoint because of what, though.”

“It’s alright.” Xion laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Just go on to the next one.” Considering it had been vaguely familiar to her, she placed the most hopes in it being helpful. She still couldn’t put her finger on it though, as she saw the bulky sword again.

“This was important to me.” He jabbed a finger at the picture in excitement. “It belonged to me for a while.” The smile that had bloomed on his face a moment ago dropped again. “My living legacy… What does that mean?” he pointed a questioning gaze at Naminé.

Before she could reply however, the door to the library was pushed open and Aqua strode in with a smile. However that was soon replaced with a look of surprise, as she stopped abruptly halfway between the entrance and where they had been sitting. “Zack?”

She was met with a trio of stunned looks. “You know him, Master Aqua?” Naminé inquired.

Aqua briefly glanced to her before her eyes locked onto the guys face again. She took the last few steps until she was standing before them. “Yes, we’ve met ten years ago.”

The man, who apparently was named Zack, had sprung up in excitement. “Really?”

Aqua nodded and seemed to have finally gathered herself enough to make sense of the situation. “You’ve lost your memory, that’s why Xion requested Naminés help.”

“This is great! You can help me recall my memories then” Zack said enthusiastically.

Aqua faltered slightly, a guilty expression on her face. “While we did meet, I was hardly privy to information about your past. And I haven’t seen you since that time ten years ago.” Xion watched in trepidation as Zacks shoulders slumped downwards in disappointment. With the way he was hunched in on himself like that, he reminded Xion of a kicked dog.

“But you at least know his homeworld” Xion interjected hopefully.

“I met him at the Olympus Coliseum.” Xion stiffened at her words. Had they screwed up after all? Aqua had apparently noticed her guilty expression. “I wouldn’t say with certainty, that Zack actually is from there. He’d only just arrived for a training opportunity back then and Olympus is one of the more travelled worlds.”

Naminé laid her hand over where Xions had been resting on the armrest of the chair and smiled reassuringly at her, which made Xion perk up again slightly. “It is quite interesting that everything seems to link back to Olympus, even the sword.”

Now Xion was confused. She looked back at the picture, but there was still no metaphorical lightbulb lighting up about her head. Naminé took pity on her and explained. “It’s the one Cloud wielded when Sora met him in the Coliseum for the first time.”

“Oh, that’s where I know it from!” blurted Xion. “Well that’s easy then” she turned excitedly to Zack. “We can just hop on over to Radiant Garden and ask him.”

Zack perked right back up and was grinning brightly. “He’s gotta know right? Because I know that sword was really important to me.” Xion nodded enthusiastically.

Naminé smiled gently. “It won’t take a minute if we use the train.” Xion in her excitement had almost forgotten, that the train connecting the Mysterious Tower with Twilight Town now also continued on to Radiant Garden. The new railway had been created in a joined effort by the Restoration Committee including Merlin and the scientist of the Radiant Garden castle. It had made a lot of sense to establish a direct pathway between those worlds, because while there was easy communication via Gummiphone, there was a lot of foot traffic between the worlds. Axel visited pretty often and both Terra and Aqua had meetings with the castle staff, also Ienzo insisted on regular check-ups on everyone who had come back with the help of a replica vessel. So having the train run that route as well, was pretty efficient. They were currently working on connecting it to the Land of Departure and Disney Castle. Aqua, Terra and Ventus being the most excited about the prospect of returning their homeworld to its original purpose of training keybladewielders, but It was a big project everyone was really excited about.

“Can we go right now?” Zack asked looking from Aqua to Naminé and then to Xion. 

“Sure! I’m free anyway and maybe Naminé could come too?” Xion looked over to Aqua for confirmation, who nodded with a smile. Xion beamed at her before looking back at Zack. “We’re good to go then!”

 

As they got off the train Xion reached for Naminés hand to intertwine their fingers. As she looked back to make sure Zack was following them, she saw that he was looking at them with a warm smile, before looking around at his surroundings. “Woah! It’s beautiful here.” His eyes shone in wonder as his gaze wandered over the white cobblestones and the beds of flowers lining most paths.

Xion chuckled. “Yeah, it’s impressive what the Restoration Committee has accomplished. Radiant Garden had been completely overrun by darkness at one point, but they fixed it up to what you see now within…what, two years?” She threw a questioning look at Naminé, hoping for confirmation which she got in the form of a nod.

Interest apparently piqued Zack asked: “What’s the Restoration Committee?”

“A group of original inhabitants who had been displaced when Radiant Garden was destroyed, now that their back, they have made it their mission to restore their home to its old self. Their work consists mostly of keeping the Heartless out and repairing the damage that the destruction caused” Xion elaborated.

As they passed an alleyway, they were almost bowled over by a short figure. “Oh hey Yuffie!” Xion had half a mind to ask her, if she could point them in the direction of Cloud, but the girl wasn’t even looking at her anymore, wide eyes focused solely on Zack. Before Xion could ask her what was up Yuffie bailed. Here one second gone the next.

“I’m not the only one who noticed that she ran off because of me, right?” Zack asked looking between Naminé and Xion for an answer, an unhappy frown on his face. “You think I knew her and she hated my guts?”

Naminé shook her head with a gentle smile. “I don’t think so. She doesn’t really strike me as someone who would hold a grudge. She was probably just shocked to see you.”

Zack nodded. “Makes sense I guess.” Still, Xion could see that it shook him somewhat, to garner that kind of strong reaction and she supposed it was a little odd for Yuffie to just vanish without saying at least something.

“Well we can always ask later, but we won’t find Cloud just by standing around all day.” Xion started walking again and was met with a chuckle from Zack.

They had to do a little bit of wandering around, but after a helpful tip of a passer-by they finally found who they were looking for in one of the little side plazas. Cloud was talking to Leon with his back turned the approaching group. It was the brunet who spied them first and greeted them with a raised hand. “Xion, Naminé, good to see you.”

“Hey”, Xion said smiling, while Naminé gave a short wave. At this point they had gotten within a few feet of the two men and Cloud turned around. He froze, colour draining from his face, as he starred at Zack. He looked like he’d seen a ghost. Leon had noticed his friends reaction as well and watched worriedly. Zack was giving off a jittery energy, uncertain how to react in the face of Clouds shaken look.

The silence went on for a while longer and once it seemed like Zack was seconds away from breaking it out of pure desperation, Cloud did so himself. “You are dead. I saw you die.” Well that certainly explained the look of horror.

Zack swallowed audibly, obviously rattled by that proclamation. He pointed a swaying finger briefly at Cloud, before pulling his hand through his hair while saying with a nervous chuckle. “That would explain the memory loss.” His head jerked towards Naminé. “Resurrection would totes erase some memories, right?”

Naminé tilted her head to the side. “It wouldn’t be the first time.” Now it was Xions turn to look at Naminé confusedly, who was she referring to? But the explanation to that could wait till later.

Cloud took a staggering step forward. “It can’t be. It’s been nine years.” Cloud had reached Zack, extending a hand to grab hold of his arm. He looked moments from breaking down and Xion was hard pressed to think of a time, she had been more shaken. It was quite something, to see usually stoic Cloud be reduced to this shaking and vulnerable state. Her heart gave a pang, as she was vividly remembered of her own reunion with her lost friends and her grip around Naminés hand increased in strength. Naminé squeezed back reassuringly.

Meanwhile Zack had grabbed Clouds shoulder, helping to stabilize the other. “Hey… Hey, it’s alright, whatever’s happened back then, I’m back.” It was heart-warming, seeing him try to console Cloud, even though it was still apparent that he was thoroughly overwhelmed by the situation. Cloud shuddered and collapsed against Zacks chest, burying his free hand in the material of the dark shirt and clinging to it with all his strength. A quick glance at Leon revealed to Xion that, while he was still clearly concerned, he had at least an inkling as to what was happening.

“We should probably give them a moment”, whispered Naminé and Xion nodded, Leon doing the same. They moved a few steps and half turned their back to the hugging men.

“How did you find him?” asked Leon in a hushed tone.

“Vanitas and I found him wandering around Mount Olympus. He couldn’t remember anything, so we took him back to the tower, where Naminé examined the state of his memory and provided us with a connection to Cloud” explained Xion in a rushed whisper. “Who was he to Cloud?” she asked, the curiosity for answers had been gnawing at her since she had first found Zack.

“I only know him through what I’ve been told about him. Cloud told me Zack had been a mentor of his, but I suspect Cloud thought of him more like an older brother. Zack died, or considering he is back, it’s more likely he was swallowed by darkness. That was around nine years ago, when Radiant Garden fell to the Heartless. As far as I know Cloud blames himself for Zacks death, as he died protecting Cloud.”

Xion glanced back at the other two. “That does put that reaction into perspective.”

Leon nodded solemnly. “I haven’t ever seen him like this.”

A few steps over, Cloud and Zack finally separated for the most part, there still remained a steadying hand on Clouds shoulder. A big smile spread on Zacks face, as he looked Cloud over with a new sense of recognition in his eyes. “Look how much you’ve grown! And yet you still manage to be short.” Zack chuckled and ruffled trough Clouds already dishevelled hair.

Cloud was still for a moment, before an incredulous look spread over his face and he batted Zacks hand away. “Don’t even know why I missed you” he grumbled.

Zacks smile spread even wider, now bordering on splitting his face in half. “But you do admit you missed me?”

The trio of bystanders choose that moment to wander back over, Leon extending his hand. “Leon, I’m in charge of the security in Radiant Garden and a friend of Clouds.”

Zack took the offered hand with a friendly grin. shaking it. “Pleasure to meet you. Thanks for keeping an eye on this one while I’ve been gone.” He nodded over to Cloud for emphasis, which got him a scoff in response from the blond.

“So are your memories back?” Xion inquired, brimming with curiosity.

Zack shrugged. “Kinda” he said unsurely “Some are back. I remember the last time I’ve seen Cloud and our friendship, a few memories of Radiant Garden, but not really much else.”

Xion deflated a little, before perking up again. “But that does bode well for all of your memories returning with time!”

At this moment hurried steps drew near from behind them, before stopping abruptly. “Zack?” Aeriths voice was shaking filled with apprehensive hope. At the sound of her voice Zack whirled around. Closely following behind Aerith, Yuffie came to a panting halt.

Eyes wide, Zack took in Aeriths appearance. “Aerith” was all that left his slack mouth. Aerith hiccupped, hands flying up to cover her mouth, while her eyes welled over with tears. The next moment Zack was moving, long strides eating up the distance between them, until he was close enough to wind his arms around the crying womans waist and lift her clean off the ground, swinging her around in a circle. All the while joyous laughter was bubbling out of him and even Aerith seemed to be laughing through her tears. After a dizzying amount of time Zack set her down again, hands firmly planted on her shoulders, as she wiped away at her tearstained cheeks. Zack was still chuckling softly, while murmuring words to her that were too quiet for the onlookers to decipher.

Xion looked questioningly over at Cloud who had a fond smile on his face, as he watched the scene unfolding in front of him. Leon in turn was watching Cloud with a soft loo, that reminded Xion of Terra looking at Aqua that time she had been stuck in the library. Naminé next to her smothered a giggle and when Xion looked at her, she just gave her a secretive smile, before turning to Leon. “We better leave for now. Xion still has a whole mission report to write out” she said cheerfully.

Leon chuckled softly, moving his gaze to the two girls for a moment. Xion let out a scoff. They weren’t really required to write reports, much to the relief of her two best friends and herself. The face Roxas had made when Aqua suggested it, had rivalled his reaction when the ice cream vendor in Twilight Town told them he was out of seasalt flavour. But she did agree with Naminé. Zack had probably a lot of stuff to work through with Aerith and Cloud and possibly a few more of the Radiant Garden inhabitants. They didn’t have to stick around for that. A visit the next day or the day after, to see how they all adjusted would do just fine. So they bid goodbye to Leon and Cloud, throwing a casual wave in Yuffies direction. Zack and Aerith were too wrapped up in each other to even notice them leaving.

“We should get ice cream for the way home” suggested Naminé, which of course was met with Xions enthusiastic approval.

 

Back at the Mysterious Tower they were greeted by Ventus who had a nonplussed Vanitas trailing after him. He stopped right in front of Xion. “You had Zack visit the tower and didn’t let him stay long enough so I could see him?” He managed to sound both wounded and slightly accusing at the same time.

Xion trailed a questioning gaze over to Vanitas, accompanied by a raised eyebrow. Vanitas just shrugged. “I told him the whole story. He maintains his opinion that you should have waited.”

Xion looked back at Ventus, who upon being disregarded had gained a few levels of indignation. “Well good news is you can visit him in Radiant Garden whenever you want from now on.” This immediately dispelled Ventus’ foul mood replacing it with a happy smile, which garnered an eye roll from Vanitas, an amused giggle from Naminé and an exasperate smile from Xion.

“It’s a good idea to visit him soon, it might help him recall a few more memories“ supplied Naminé cheerfully.

“So did it actually work?” Vanitas had tilted his head slightly to the side.

“Yes!” Naminé was enthusiastic to answer, as she clasped her hands together. “With the help of the right stimuli he recalled some of his memories.”

“Is that so?” Vanitas feigned disinterest, but luckily for him Ventus took asking for more details upon himself. So Naminé and Xion spent the rest of the evening recounting the events in Radiant Garden.


End file.
